[ OUR OPINION ]

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EIS is necessary for
shopping center in
rural Pupukea

THE ISSUE A 53-tenant commercial complex has been proposed for land next to shoreline parks and a marine conservation district on the North Shore.

A PROPOSED shopping center bordering the Pupukea shoreline will undoubtedly affect the rural character of the community. It holds potential advantages for economic growth and employment. However, it will increase traffic, water and energy consumption, produce more sewage and solid wastes as well as surface runoff and other pollutants that could damage the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, one of only 11 such legally protected sites in the state.

These wide-ranging factors dictate that the city require a comprehensive analysis before it gives the project its stamp of approval. Mayor Harris and the Department of Planning & Permitting should direct the Pupukea Village developer to conduct a full environmental impact statement for its plans.

Honu Group, which also developed the luxury 2100 Kalakaua shopping complex in Waikiki, wants to build a more modest retail center across the two-lane Kamehameha Highway from Pupukea Beach Park and Shark's Cove on Oahu's North Shore.

The developer describes the project as a community shopping center to serve the daily needs of the surrounding area rather than a new attraction for tourism.

Even so, a review by a team of University of Hawaii planning, ocean marine and environmental experts points out that the plans for 53 stores and offices, including restaurants seating a total of about 280 -- more than available at all current North Shore dining establishments -- and employment for several hundred people amount to a major commercial operation.

In addition, designs show a commercial bus stop and drop-off area on Kamehameha where, at present, no tour buses stop or unload passengers because of the traffic congestion that would cause.

Consideration must also be given to the increase in traffic the center would generate in an area that draws large numbers of vehicles during the winter months, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation. Moreover, if several hundred people are to work at the complex, parking would be in short supply.

Honu Group hopes to mitigate visual blight by placing 219 customer spaces in an underground garage with only 30 slots on the landscaped surface. But excavation near the shoreline would be problematic because of soil conditions and subterranean lava tubes and the developer does not address environmental questions about potential ground water and ocean pollution.

The shopping center would build its own sewage-treatment plant, but blueprints do not indicate a location nor do they specify treatment methods or outflow, which is of major importance because of the high recreational use of adjacent shoreline areas.

Residents who like the community's rural ambiance have opposed the shopping center as inconsistent with the city's General Plan, which states such areas should be maintained as "open and scenic settings" that are "small in size and very low density" and offer lifestyles different from urban regions.

These are few and far between on Oahu. If Pupukea is to be offered up to the winds of change, a thorough appraisal would be the right thing to do.